Launch of a missile of the Mersad air defence missile system (Photo: irna.ir / Hossein Heidarpour)
Iran’s air defenses had fired a warning shot at a US General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper combat drone that was flying over the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian Nour News reported on August 12.
The semi-official news agency shared what it said was footage from a control room of the Iranian Air Defense Force as the warning shot was fired at the drone.
Military observers revealed that the footage shared by the Nour News were originally aired on Iranian television on August 11. It remains unclear when the incident took place.
Interestingly enough this is an extract from a clip aired on Iranian TV yesterday about Iran’s Air Defense, so I am slightly curious if Nour News is misreporting this, did it actually happen yesterday?
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) August 12, 2021
This was not the first time Iran opened fire at US drones approaching its airspace. On June 20 of 2019, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down a BAMS-D drone, a variant of Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, near the Strait of Hormuz.
The new incident came amid high tensions between Iran and the US, which recently accused Tehran of orchestrating the July 29 attack on the Israel-operated MERCER STREET tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Two crewmen, a British and a Romanian, were killed in the attack.
Iran has already warned that it will respond to any military action. The Persian Gulf may soon experience a serious military escalation.
